Hello World, Mind If I Interrupt?

So, it’s been a few days….and of course, so many things have happened. Not completely major by anyone’s standards, but I’ve had enough conflicting emotions this past weekend, I feel like I should be checked into a hospital….which is scary because right now that sounds almost pleasant.

So, Saturday went well for the most part I think. I got up late, had breakfast (frozen muffins….really, that’s when it’s at its best). A coworker met me at the complex and we drove to the Mountain View Grocery store to search for balloons and other birthday-ish things since it was the 22nd birthday of another coworker. She had to work that day, so we wanted to do something special for her. We found some fun birthday gags, like a cap gun, “girls day out” package, which included a pair of sunglasses, a bracelet, a lollipop, and some other essentials, a kite, and bubbles. Unfortunately, the only balloons we could find were water balloons. We also found some Reeses peanut butter chocolate chips to stick in the cupcakes we planned to make. We loaded up our stuff, headed back to her house, and set to work on the cupcakes. They actually turned out well, which was a point for each of us non-cooking/baking types. While they were cooling and before we could ice them, we took our incredibly sad balloons and drove up to the coal mine where her father works to see if we could find a helium tank. It was a really neat trip! The coal mine is off limits to anyone who doesn’t work there, so it was cool that her dad took the time to drive us around and give me the grand tour. He even let us get out and take a picture next to the giant dump trucks and of the coal grinding shoots….of course, I only had my camera on my phone because I didn’t want to carry my good camera with me. It was still cool though! We couldn’t find any helium, which was a good thing really, because the little balloons never would have been able to handle it.

On our drive back, I was casually looking out the window as we crossed over the railroad tracks and thought I saw a horse walking down the tracks, only to realize it was a mother moose and two babies! I practically screamed at Cori to pull over, which she did, and we raced back onto the bridge. Unfortunately, they were too far away for me to get a good picture, so we did a little illegal driving down to the rail road tracks to see if we could get a better look. Unfortunately she kept ditching us and finally we completely lost her. Still, I’m glad I finally saw something bigger than a fox and Cori is proof that I didn’t make it up.

That was pretty much my Saturday in a nutshell…I was feeling kind of good for most of the day, but afterwords I felt home sick. After all, what’s the point of having these experiences if you have no one to really share them with? I mean, putting them up here is all well and good, but it’s not the same as being able to run home and tell someone all about your day. Plus, I got word that my friends were thinking of leaving Alaska. I can’t blame them, because it’s exactly what I had been thinking for the last few weeks, but I can’t leave this soon, as I feel I never would be able to live it down that I was only here for two weeks. Still, it was a sobering thought for the evening.

Sunday morning……I awoke to my roommate having packed all of her things while I was sleeping and telling me that she had booked herself on a blame tomorrow morning for home because she was too homesick and bored to stay for the summer. I spent about an hour or so talking to her and sharing my own misgivings about staying the summer, all the while realizing that I was desperately wanting to trade places. I was just starting to get to know her too, and although it might be nice to have a room to myself, who knows how long that will last before Cathi finds me a new (and probably less approachable) roommate. I had also awoken two times this morning, thinking I was home, only to open my eyes and realize that, nope, still in Alaska. Let’s just say that I was ready to jump on that plane as well.

Once nice thing though, my boyfriend did get his phone back for about an hour today and I finally got to talk to him. I haven’t heard a word since my college graduation, so it was nice to have time to catch up. That’s the only thing really going for Alaska right now – he’ll be arriving on Friday and will be here until Monday. I’m trying to plan everything I possibly can into those few short days, so we can have the Alaskan experience together. My friends are leaving for home on Monday of next week, so after that I will truly be with complete strangers. *Sigh* I guess I am giving this lovely trip experience until next week before I start thinking about coming home. Today was definitely a good test of my own will power not to completely break down and I am just hoping I can get through the rest of the week and have fun next weekend. After that, my roommate and I went into the canyon to have lunch together. We ate burgers at the Bake and then went shopping at a Dizzy Lizzy’s that’s on the strip. She had to work after that, but I thought I would wander through some of the shops. I’m glad I did because I found tons of postcards, a penny press (yyayyy!!!!), patches, a t-shirt, and a stuffed moose to make me feel better. Hey, what can I say, sometimes spending money is theraputic. I raced back to my apartment complex after that and changed into a swimsuit and headed back to the canyon because my friends were able to sneak me in so I could use the hot tubs with them! It was by far the most relaxing part of my past two weeks, sitting in an awesome hottub outside, overlooking the Nenanna river and a mountain view. We changed and went to Prospector’s Pizzeria for dinner and then walked down the boardwalk for ice cream. Both were delicious, but I don’t think the pizza liked me. Anyway’s, that was definitely a better end to my Sunday than the way it had begun, but I am still pretty exhausted. Tomorrow, I plan to check the post office and see if my bike tire has come in yet, survive my Monday work day, and then finish making reservations for tour plans.

I feel like I’ve been through too many emotional upheavals today that right now I don’t even know what to think or feel. I guess I just need to get some sleep and try not to have any break downs or panic attacks.